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Conventional wisdom and many books on the topic suggest you learn how to write good speeches by reading good speeches.

Well, I’m sorry, but that is not very helpful advice.

If you are into “genre analysis” — may god in her infinite wisdom bless your poor depraved soul – then by all means — read away. And, certainly silently reading a good speech won’t necessarily rot your brain. But it won’t teach you much about what good speechifying is all …

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As I watched President Obama’s moving eulogy at the funeral of Senator Clementa Pinckney in Charleston in late June – and his equally remarkable speech in Selma some months earlier – I once again began thinking about the challenges of finding the “voice” of our speakers when we don’t share their age, gender, race, or culture.

Can a 25-year-old write for a 60-year-old senior executive? Would a female scientist making a speech on the challenges of women in the sciences …

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Having been in the freelance writing game for over 20 years, I have made just about every business mistake in the book. And those mistakes have cost me clients and money. If you are a one-person company providing writing services to clients – either online or in person – here are three big time mistakes that you want to avoid.

The first is not picking up the damn phone when it rings. I know this goes against the advice of …

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During the waning hours of debate in the South Carolina legislature to remove the Confederate flag from flying over State House grounds, certain Republican lawmakers threw up a flurry of last-minute amendments to delay passage of the bill.

Then Representative Jenny Horne – a Republican – stood up and put the obstructionists in their place once and for all. And the bill was passed.

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The form and function of any speech you work on should primarily be driven by the texture of the event and the needs of the audience, and not by the political or corporate needs of the speaker to deliver a favourite message.

And, this is almost always a very hard sell to your speaker.

As speechwriters, we always do our clients a good turn if we get them to speak to the needs of the audience rather than their own.…